This invention relates to shock-producing, animal repelling and training devices; particularly to a baited, shock-producing, deer repelling and training device which has electrodes that are shaped and spaced to increase the chances that a deer will make contact with a positive and negative electrode simultaneously.
Various electrode configurations have been described for portable, shock-producing, animal deterrent devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 922,377 to Ames (1909), French Patent 440,270 to Calvert (1912) and Swiss Patent 82,560 to Baumann (1919), show small animal extermination devices with the electrodes being arranged essentially in the same plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,571 to Palmer (1986) shows an animal training device with the outer conductive case of the device being one electrode and the stake to the earth being the other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,818 to Betzen (1999) describes a baited, shock-producing, deer repelling and training device in which the deterrent voltage maintained across the electrodes is stored in a capacitor. The electrodes of the device described by Betzen (1999) are short projections above the surface of the device.
An electrode configuration for use in a device for a large animal, such as a deer, must protect the bait from an approach from the top. None of these prior art devices provide an electrode configuration which protects the bait from an approach from the top.
Subsequent prototypes and commercial models of a deer repellent device using the power system described by Betzen (1999) have used two crisscrossing semicircular, bare wire electrodes which describe a hemisphere which surrounds the scent dispenser to protect it from an approach from the top. U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,951 to Betzen (2000) shows a crisscrossing electrode configuration designed to protect the bait from an approach from virtually any direction, consisting of a positive, circular electrode and a negative, circular electrode which are opposed at ninety degrees and which describe a sphere which encloses the attractant dispenser.
These crisscrossing configurations of electrodes have proven to be effective, but a problem has become evident with this electrode configuration which has not allowed this type of device to perform to its full potential. In order for this type of device to deliver a shock, a deer must contact both a positive and a negative electrode simultaneously. With crisscrossing electrodes, the chances that a deer will contact two electrodes is greater near the top and lower at the sides of the device where the electrodes are further apart. It has been observed that an occasional deer will touch the side of the device, touching only one electrode, and not receive a shock. When this happens the deer learns both that the device is not good to eat, despite how it smells, and, that the device is not harmful. Therefore the deer will not touch the device again and it will have no reason to be afraid of the area, rendering the device and the method ineffectual for that particular deer. This is especially a problem with fawns. Since their noses are smaller, fawns have an increased chance of not contacting both electrodes if they touch the sides of the device where the electrodes are further apart. Also, since fawns are shorter, they are more likely to touch the device on the side.
To be most effective on this type of deer repellent device, the bare wire electrodes must be shaped and spaced such that they provide a near even chance that a deer will contact a positive and a negative electrode simultaneously, regardless of the angle or direction of the deer""s approach or the size of the deer. None of these prior art devices provide such an electrode configuration.
It is evident that all of the prior art devices disclosed herein suffer from disadvantages which limit their efficiency.
Accordingly, the objects and features of the device of the present invention are described subsequently which eliminate problems associated with the prior art devices.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide an electrode configuration for a baited, shock-producing deer repellent device which has the alternating positive and negative electrodes being shaped and spaced such that they are substantially parallel and have a substantially constant distance between them, and with this electrode arrangement functioning to provide an approximately even chance that a deer will make contact with a positive and a negative electrode simultaneously, regardless of the angle or direction of the deer""s approach, or of the size of the deer.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a substantially hemispherical electrode configuration for a baited, shock-producing deer repellent device, which has alternating positive and negative electrodes being substantially semicircular shaped and with the semicircular electrodes being appropriately sized and being arranged with the flat plane of the semicircle being vertical, and being spaced to form an approximate hemisphere to enclose the attractant dispenser, and with the positive and negative electrodes being substantially parallel and equidistant from each other, and with this electrode arrangement functioning to provide an approximately even chance that a deer will make contact with a positive and a negative electrode simultaneously, regardless of the angle or direction of the deer""s approach, or of the size of the deer.
Therefore, it can be seen that the combination of features incorporated into the device of the present invention solves problems associated with the prior art electrode configurations used on this type of deer repelling and training device. It can also be seen that the device of the present invention produces new and unobvious results that have not been produced by the prior art.